Speculation: Offseason coaching thread: Should they stay or should they go?

[Giskard]

so we're doubling down on Sullivan's
what could go wrong?

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

Sounds like my job...get paid to sit in the shitter half your shift while everyone else covers for you and you still get paid.

If you have to sit on the shitter half your shift, you might want to get that checked out.

 

[66-30-33]

If you have to sit on the shitter half your shift, you might want to get that checked out.

Got a few people in my department that do that while playing on their phones.

 

[Jacob]

On the surface I’d prefer a Potulny over a Snowden since he’s got more experience from a player-development standpoint, coaching kids in college vs. men in the ECHL.

 

[Jag68Sid87]

I am all for trying to get the most out of Erik Karlsson, so I am on board with David Quinn as the assistant coach of the defense. I still think they should hire someone specifically to fix the power play. It is by far the biggest issue on this team. If the team was built around its goaltending, then the goaltending would be the biggest issue.

This team is built around the core, so the power play is priority No. 1. Invest in it. Get a coach whose responsibility is to fix it, and get a top-six forward who can help improve it.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

I don't know that Quinn was the guy getting the most out of EK as much as he was just not getting in EK's way and letting him do his thing. Which, even with the addition of Quinn to the coaching staff, probably still isn't gonna happen with Sully around.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

Maybe Quinn just wasn't quite enough of an egotistical moron to try to adjust a player's game who just won the Norris with over 100 points as a defenseman and is well into his 30s.

But don't worry. We'll learn him.

 

[BusinessGoose]

Maybe Quinn just wasn't quite enough of an egotistical moron to try to adjust a player's game who just won the Norris with over 100 points as a defenseman and is well into his 30s.

But don't worry. We'll learn him.

Right, that only works if quinn was the top of pyramid. Sully is still standing there.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

Right, that only works if quinn was the top of pyramid. Sully is still standing there.

I mean... honestly at this point in the game if anyone actually has any notions at all about someone coming in and being a "new voice" or "providing a foil" or whatever while Mike Sullivan basically runs the whole-ass team I don't know what to tell them. Especially when it seems increasingly clear that any additions are just going to be good-buddies and yes men.

 

[Gurglesons]

I mean... honestly at this point in the game if anyone actually has any notions at all about someone coming in and being a "new voice" or "providing a foil" or whatever while Mike Sullivan basically runs the whole-ass team I don't know what to tell them. Especially when it seems increasingly clear that any additions are just going to be good-buddies and yes men.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

Also... come to think of it why are they bringing in a guy to JUST take up running the defensemen? Like... don't mistake me... I'm glad Todd is outta here. I never wanted him here in the first place. But he wasn't fired (or shouldn't have been) based on his work with the defensemen. Which honestly wasn't even all that bad. It was his abject failure with the powerplay.

It's almost like this is just all for show to hire a comfy buddy.

 

[Gurglesons]

Also... come to think of it why are they bringing in a guy to JUST take up running the defensemen? Like... don't mistake me... I'm glad Todd is outta here. I never wanted him here in the first place. But he wasn't fired (or shouldn't have been) based on his work with the defensemen. Which honestly wasn't even all that bad. It was his abject failure with the powerplay.

It's almost like this is just all for show to hire a comfy buddy.

 

[DesertedPenguin]

Also... come to think of it why are they bringing in a guy to JUST take up running the defensemen? Like... don't mistake me... I'm glad Todd is outta here. I never wanted him here in the first place. But he wasn't fired (or shouldn't have been) based on his work with the defensemen. Which honestly wasn't even all that bad. It was his abject failure with the powerplay.

It's almost like this is just all for show to hire a comfy buddy.

I said elsewhere that I do think teams are starting to expand and specialize coaching staffs. So it's possible they're going to four assistants.

Or maybe they just haven't decided on who will run different special teams units.

Or Sullivan is going to run the power play himself.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

I wouldn't be surprised at this point if... after the team goes on a huge slide and is pressured to fire Sullivan... they introduce new head coach Trike Mulligan and it's just Sully with one of those Groucho Marx nose and glasses combos.

Or Sullivan is going to run the power play himself.

This will likely be the thing. Regardless.

 

[DesertedPenguin]

I wouldn't be surprised at this point if... after the team goes on a huge slide and is pressured to fire Sullivan... they introduce new head coach Trike Mulligan and it's just Sully with one of those Groucho Marx nose and glasses combos.

Well...Bobby Valentine is a former Boston Red Sox manager. Maybe he still has his disguise from his Mets days.

 

[GilbertSeinfeld]

Also... come to think of it why are they bringing in a guy to JUST take up running the defensemen? Like... don't mistake me... I'm glad Todd is outta here. I never wanted him here in the first place. But he wasn't fired (or shouldn't have been) based on his work with the defensemen. Which honestly wasn't even all that bad. It was his abject failure with the powerplay.

It's almost like this is just all for show to hire a comfy buddy.

The Pens plan for the power play is to just have seven players on the ice.

Either no one notices and they generate more chances, or they get called for too many men, and the power play ends. Either way, it's a positive outcome for the team.

 

[Gurglesons]

There is no plan for the powerplay. The Penguins did great from an expected goals standpoint and we could've beat the Rangers.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

There is no plan for the powerplay. The Penguins did great from an expected goals standpoint and we could've beat the Rangers.

Steps to the Pens PP:
1-Lose faceoff and have to retrieve puck from own zone after clear
2-Fail 2 or 3 zone entries
3-Finally set up with 50 seconds gone in PP
4-Pass around the perimeter in the slowest fashion possible.
5-Set up Geno for a blatantly obvious one timer with no screen

 

[vodeni]

There is no plan for the powerplay. The Penguins did great from an expected goals standpoint and we could've beat the Rangers.

an interesting nugget from the few nights ago...when asked what happened that Florida finally scored on PP , one of them maybe coach or a player, I forgot said, well we finally realized its not working (their PP really resembled Penguins, with no answers to Oilers aggressive PK), so we said lets play like its five on five driving, and heavy forecheck, and it paid off. It will be interesting to see how they move forward with that

Steps to the Pens PP:
1-Lose faceoff and have to retrieve puck from own zone after clear
2-Fail 2 or 3 zone entries
3-Finally set up with 50 seconds gone in PP
4-Pass around the perimeter in the slowest fashion possible.
5-Set up Geno for a blatantly obvious one timer with no screen

what year we are talking about here...I haven't see No.5 in along long time...

 

[Gurglesons]

Steps to the Pens PP:
1-Lose faceoff and have to retrieve puck from own zone after clear
2-Fail 2 or 3 zone entries
3-Finally set up with 50 seconds gone in PP
4-Pass around the perimeter in the slowest fashion possible.
5-Set up Geno for a blatantly obvious one timer with no screen

"Geno Bomb". The most annoying phrase any Penguins fan can say.

 

[pistolpete11]

Guys,

It doesn't matter. Sullivan is still here. Quinn on his own as an assistant coach? Meh, who cares. People bitched about hiring Tocchet because he was a failed HC, Mario was just hiring his buddies, yadda yadda yadda. Then...a FeW yEaRs LaTeR....people claimed he was actually the brains behind the back-to-back Cups. You never really know how a new coach is going to click with a team.

However, we do know how Sullivan clicks with this team....and it's 6 and counting years without winning a playoff round....but xG or whatever.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

I am very likely going to regret posting I am sure, but I just had to comment on the recent coaching situation.

Grant Potulny - There is not one player in his 7 years in Western Michigan that has gone on to make the NHL in any regular capacity and somehow this is the bloke that Spezza feels is the right choice, because what, they're mates? The fact that he was coaching there, shows that as the years wore on, he really didn't progress much at all. The CCHA is the ECHL of College Hockey.

David Quinn - Not a fan personally of this hire as an Assistant Coach. He was supposedly this coach that was great at Development, but when he made the NHL as the Rangers HC, not a lot of headway was made for the youth, if anything after he left, it seemed as though the young players he did have, suddenly developed 3yrs within a year with their new coach. The biggest issues with Quinn is the same for Sullivan - was known for developing young players, but then had a weird fascination of playing favorites to veteran players and his systems, x's and o's are just flat out mediocre. His teams have been awful defensively over 5 seasons and 2 teams. Awful pinches, just terrible odd man rushes, this is the bloke that supposedly is taking over Reirden?

David Quinn at worst should have been the WBS coach, to figure his issues out and be humbled like Bylsma, to actually grow into a coach that can fix his issues and maybe prove he is that Developmental Coach he was with Boston University and US WJC Teams. At best, Quinn shouldn't even be hired, he just isn't good.

If Mike Vellucci is a smart bloke, he will resign and take a job elsewhere. There's no future staying behind Mike Sullivan, he will be the scapegoat the moment they need someone else to blame yet again instead of Mike Sullivan when the special teams fail.

The hiring of David Quinn is all kinds of pathetic no matter how anyone wants to defend it. He's not a great coach and his weird "record of helping elite defensemen reach their potential" is possibly the most comical take I've ever seen a coach get for basically not doing any of that. Karlsson was an elite Defenseman before Quinn, Fox became an elite Defenseman under Gallant. What Quinn has is - He's best friends with Mike Sullivan and he's a fellow Masshole that also coached Mike Sullivan's son in law.

This franchise is beyond pathetic.

Cronyism at its finest.

I hope Reirden reunites with Bylsma in Seattle and ends up proving he wasn't the problem when Seattle finishes with a better powerplay with lesser talent. Recchi btw - this is a bloke that after he was fired by the Penguins, should have been in the AHL as an Assistant Coach learning how to actually f***ing coach vs just being hired because he was once a great hockey player and apparently that should transfer over as a coach - clearly not the case 99% of the time. My horse in the coaching race has always been David Carle, have been mentioning him for a couple of years now and the Pens will happily piss that chance away because Sullivan needs his friends first.

 

[BusinessGoose]

Also... come to think of it why are they bringing in a guy to JUST take up running the defensemen?

Which honestly wasn't even all that bad. It was his abject failure with the powerplay.

I recall our dzone coverage to be f***ING pathetic last year, so epically out of position.. The entire team looked peewee hockey puck watching. I dunno if the defense coach only talks to the six dudes or the whole team. But man, weren't we getting turnstiled in the slot all year?

Is my memory wrong?

 

[AuroraBorealis]

Guys,

It doesn't matter. Sullivan is still here. Quinn on his own as an assistant coach? Meh, who cares. People bitched about hiring Tocchet because he was a failed HC, Mario was just hiring his buddies, yadda yadda yadda. Then...a FeW yEaRs LaTeR....people claimed he was actually the brains behind the back-to-back Cups. You never really know how a new coach is going to click with a team.

However, we do know how Sullivan clicks with this team....and it's 6 and counting years without winning a playoff round....but xG or whatever.

I know we don't need a passive assistant when the team is already sleepy and satisfied. Tocchet was certainly not that.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

I recall our dzone coverage to be f***ING pathetic last year, so epically out of position.. The entire team looked peewee hockey puck watching. I dunno if the defense coach only talks to the six dudes or the whole team. But man, weren't we getting turnstiled in the slot all year?

Is my memory wrong?

No you aren't wrong at all. But I guess I look at that more as overall team strategy/deployment/philosophy and less developing defensemen on a player by player basis. Maybe I'm splitting hairs or flat out off base and don't have enough understanding of the roles of individual assistant coaches. Regardless I will not miss Todd Reirden.